Reviews

Cinema’s original enfant terrible, one of the leaders of the French New Wave, a key influence on the American cinema of the 1970s and one of the few true auteurs still making movies: Jean-Luc Godard is all of these and more. A maverick force from the beginning, when his debut film A Bout de Souffle (1959) tore up the cinematic rulebook, Godard has continued to inspire and challenge moviegoers throughout a career that spans more than four decades.

Born in Paris in 1930, Godard came from a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family, where he attended school until his parents divorced in 1948 and he moved to Paris. A contemporary of Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, Godard first became involved in cinema through literary criticism, writing several articles under the pseudonym Hans Lucas. After supplying funding to films by Rivette and Rohmer, with whom he had also founded a ‘Gazette du Cinema’ for their writing, Godard’s family withdrew their financial support, and he took to living a Bohemian lifestyle, often stealing food and money when necessary. After becoming a scriptwriter and having made several short films, Godard made his memorable directorial debut in 1959 with A Bout de Souffle, cementing his reputation (earned from his articles and screenplays) as being at the forefront of La Nouvelle Vague.

The most influential of French directors, Godard was a key figure of New Wave cinema. From his 1959 debut feature A Bout De Souffle, “the film which epitomised the iconoclasm of the early Nouvelle Vague” (Time Out) Godard has remained controversial and intriguing throughout his lengthy film career. This collection also contains Passion, Alphaville and Made in the USA, as well as a comprehensive bonus disc of special features. All the extras in this set are new to UK DVD.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

In a perfect world we would get three or four Godard box sets, rounding up all his major films, like we've had for Herzog, Bunuel & Cassavetes. Unfortunately we tend instead to get the same few films endlessly repackaged in different illogical combinations (Breathless here is simultaneously re-released in a Belmondo box set!). However, for what it is, this latest box is pretty good: 4 films, the packaging isn't too tacky & there's a few shorts & docs and a fifth "Godard Encore" disc, which is really just filler but does include a lengthy film of JLG interviewing Fritz Lang. Colin MacCabe pops up here & there to say a few words which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view. As for the actual films: Breathless & Alphaville look great ("remastered") & are new wave classics which surely need no introduction. Made in the USA was a flop film from 66, a tired rehash of Pierrot la Fou made under the strain of Anna Karina & JLG splitting up, however the film is growing on me & will appeal to Godard fanatics. Those same fanatics will have to buy this box for Passion, which I don't think has appeared before on dvd in UK. Passion is an 80s "comeback" movie & so seems out of place in this box, but stands up well, perhaps his last great film, similar to Slow Motion & Tout va Bien (both recently released on dvd), though it might infuriate those averse to Godard's "difficult" late films.

So far i have only watched "Le Bout de Souffle" of this Godard volume 1 (Dvd).This is the first French language film i have watched. I just fancied a change from American/British films. I was not disappointed .Belmondo in his Bogart persona is superconfident and Seberg is a sexpot with a conscience. The ending on a Paris street is very touching.Did you know that the film was shot in August and September 1959? I happen to know that Elvis Presley holidayed near The Champs-Elysees in June of that year too, on a break from the US Army.